A Few More People Pictures in Japan

I wanted to post a few more pictures from the Undo Kai, and you can always visit the gallery to see more. You can figure most of these out yourself. The kids who are frozen into odd poses are playing a game similar to "Red Light, Green Light." But in this game they have to freeze into a pose when the person turns around. Posing -- ranging from kids throwing up quick peace signs for a picture to a TV host keeping up an elaborate flow of expressions and gesture while the host drolls on -- pervades Japanese culture.

That's something to write about another time... The kids you see running are carrying mock shrines (the real things are carried in festivals and said to house Shinto gods). These dummy shrines got dropped on the ground and basically abused. The participants are students who graduated the previous year. It's customary for them to return to one last Undo Kai and compete in a fun event. FYI, Japanese schools (unless they are run by a shrine or temple) usually don't include religious celebrations or rituals, but many cultural holidays and symbols in Japan have their origins in Buddhism or Shintoism and find their way -- in "watered down forms" into the schools. The same thing happens in the USA at Christmas, for example. Most Japanese are either secular (and view all these things are innocuous or simply cultural) or nominally Buddhist/Shinto (with overlap). My wife and I are not secular or Buddhist or Shinto but Christians trying to follow Jesus each day (really), and so we keep an eye on these things. Not tensely, but we probably wouldn't want our daughter to participate in an event that seemed to cross the line from purely cultural motions into a religious practice.

Well, finally, I've been wanting to show this picture of the mom returning home on her bicycle with three kids. Notice where the oldest child is sitting. This is nothing, really. I've seen moms riding with three kids plus shopping bags in the rain while holding umbrellas. Someday I'll get a picture of that.

Posted by jw at November 9, 2004 02:14 AM